Six Tennessee Airports Receive Aeronautics Grants

Six Tennessee airports will be getting federal and state aeronautics grants totaling more than $281,000.

The state Transportation Department announced last week that grants will be going to McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport in Jackson, McGhee Tyson in Knoxville, General DeWitt Spain in Memphis, Millington Regional Jetport, Savannah-Hardin County Airport and Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport in Sevierville.

The grants are made available through the department’s aeronautics division.

It administers federal and state funding to assist in the location, design, construction and maintenance of the state’s public aviation system.

– The Associated Press

Regions Bank Moves West Tennessee President

Regions Bank has moved Joe DiNicolantonio, the bank’s West Tennessee area president, to be the head of a new business line.

DiNicolantonio is now leading Regions’ new Business and Community Banking Division, which will focus on providing a variety of banking, lending and advisory services to businesses with up to $20 million in sales.

Regions previously managed business and community banking, including small business, as part of the company’s business services group. The new division will allow Regions to increase its focus on serving small-business customers through both branch and relationship-managed channels.

DiNicolantonio joined Regions in 1998 and has held a number of leadership roles in the retail and small-business banking areas. As West Tennessee area president, he had oversight for the bank’s retail, commercial, middle market and small-business banking activities throughout Memphis and surrounding communities.

David May, who joined Regions in 1992 and most recently served as West Tennessee commercial banking executive, will be the new West Tennessee area president.

– Andy Meek

Majority of Election Commission Reappointed

The Shelby County Election Commission looks much the same with the recent appointment of local election commissioners by the Tennessee Election Commission.

The state Election Commission followed through with those actions for new terms that began April 1.

Every county election commission across the state has three Republicans and two Democrats reflecting the Republican majorities in the Tennessee legislature.

– Bill Dries

US Adds Just 88,000 Jobs; Rate Drops to 7.6 Percent

U.S. employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and a sharp retreat after a period of strong hiring. The slowdown may signal that the economy is heading into a weak spring.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent, the lowest in four years, from 7.7 percent.

But the rate fell only because more people stopped looking for work. People who are out of work are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop looking for a job.

The percentage of working-age adult Americans with a job or looking for one fell to 63.3 percent in March, the lowest such figure in nearly 34 years.

– The Associated Press

Skolnick Named Director of Jewish Community Center

Memphis Jewish Community Center has appointed Larry Skolnick its executive director after the retirement of Barrie Weiser, who led the center for three decades.

Skolnick, who was chosen after a national search, previously served as executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, the Dayton Jewish Community Center and Dayton Area Jewish Senior Service Agency for more than seven years. In Dayton, he was responsible for a combined agency budget of $11.5 million, led a total annual fund development of about $1.8 million and oversaw the facility’s renovation and expansion.

Prior to his work in Dayton, he served as associate executive director of the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Palm Beaches.

– Daily News staff

Rhodes Video Spotlights Memories of King’s Death

Rhodes College has uploaded its short docudrama “Exactly Where We Were” to YouTube. The 11-minute video spotlights selected memories from what was going on at Rhodes – then known as Southwestern College – the night the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

“Exactly Where We Were” features interviews with Rhodes alumni Bill Short, Coby Smith and Charlie Lemmond, as well as dramatic re-enactments.

The film was created in fall 2012 by Rhodes’ advanced digital art course, taught by Elizabeth Daggett. Visit http://bit.ly/14K2Kp6 to watch the video.

– Daily News staff

Audit Shows State Paid Dead People Unemployment

An audit shows the state was sending unemployment checks to seven dead people and two dozen current state employees.

The Tennessean reported details of the state audit that triggered the resignations of former Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Karla Davis and two other top department officials.

The errors cost the state about $12,000 since July 2011, according to the audit by the state comptroller’s audit division.

Labor and Workforce has declined to release the names of those improperly getting payments, citing privacy rules.

Auditors said 18 of the state employees were getting jobless benefits through fraud while the others had a short overlap between unemployment and getting state jobs. Auditors said all seven deceased people’s families were getting money through fraud.

The department is trying to recoup the money.

– The Associated Press

Popular Elvis Exhibit Returning to Brazil

A hugely popular exhibit of some of Elvis Presley’s most flashy personal items is returning to Brazil.

Elvis Presley Enterprises says “The Elvis Experience” will be exhibited in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from May 16 through July 2.

Billed as the largest exhibition of Elvis’ personal belongings to be displayed outside the United States, the exhibit features a red MG automobile featured in his film “Blue Hawaii” and the white suit featured in the closing number of his 1968 television special.

The exhibit was seen by more than 100,000 people in Sao Paulo when it debuted last year.

Also returning to Brazil for a seven-city tour in October is “Elvis Presley in Concert,” a musical stage production that features band members interacting with Elvis on a video screen.